Anthony Placanica
Linda Cashman
ENC1102-46
15 January 2013
Literary Review of “A Rose for Emily”In “A Rose for Emily,” written by William Faulkner, Faulkner uses a lot of symbolism. As in most of Faulkner’s writings, he generates fictional stories from the South. This story has symbols that are reflected by changes going on around the time it was published. Slavery, taxes, marriage, and death are some of his key points. An important symbol in this story is Emily’s House. Faulkner lets us only see Emily’s house from the outside for most of the story. From the descriptions we are given, we can tell that the house was built in the late 1800s. To live in a house like this one right after the Civil War, usually meant the family came from money or was well respected. The narrator makes it very clear that the location of the house is “an eyesore among eyesores” or in other words, very out of place now surrounded by gas stations and garages rather than cotton fields. The fact the house was allowed to decay is a symbol that Emily doesn’t really want the house anymore. This is supported by how Emily keeps herself isolated from everything else in the town. The house is also a symbol represented by the negro house keeper. We get the idea that Emily’s father earned his wealth from either freeing or laboring slaves (Shmoop). The taxes that the city is trying to get Emily to pay can be seen as a symbol for her father’s death. In context, the beginning of the twentieth century was when women mainly worked around the house and the money for the house was made by working men. Faulkner really does not explain why Emily got to keep the house in the will so the taxes could also be a symbol of Emily’s father’s control after death (Shmoop). Marriage is an idea that comes up a lot throughout the story. Faulkner made it very clear that Emily is expecting to get married and the townspeople also expect Emily to get married. During today’s time, marriage is not pressured nearly as...

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...Literary Analysis of “A Rose For Emily”
The short story, “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, is told by an unnamed narrator and broken into five sections. The story is not chronological, but completely out of order, adding mystery and climax. The first section begins with the death of the main character, Emily Grierson, and relates the thoughts and actions of the small Southern U.S. town. A flawed relationship between the town and Miss Emily is seen throughout the story. The tension between the town (society) and Emily is a main reason for her recluse and insanity.
It is evident from the first line of the story that there is a connection between Miss Emily Grierson and the town she lived in. The opening sentence states that when Emily died the whole town went to her funeral, “the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house” (391). This comparison between the men and women attending her funeral attests to the complex relationship between Emily and the town. The men represent the pity people in the town felt for her, while the women express the coldness towards Emily. The second paragraph of the story also begins with a portrayal of the relationship between the town and Emily. The narrator states,...

...the short story ‘A Rose for Emily’. The tragic heroine, Emily Grierson, is a peculiar character in William Faulkner’s proclaimed short story. Published in 1930, this southern gothic tale is “the story of Emily’s life as a lonely and impoverished woman left penniless by her father, who drove away suitors from his overprotected daughter” (A Rose, 72). Although it is obvious in the story that Emily is a broken woman, there are different ways the people of Jefferson envision her. The townspeople give Emily the opportunity to act as she pleases but then judge her based on the principles they believe she should follow (Du 23). Then Emily is corrected and told that she is wrong and after this happens time and time again, Emily eventually directs her actions and beliefs more parallel to the towns (Du 23). Since Emily does not have a voice of her own, her character can be seen through the judgment of the townspeople. In ‘A Rose for Emily’ it can be inferred that Emily is shaped by her aristocratic family name, dehumanization of a new generation, and given title as a “fallen monument”(Faulkner, I).
Emily Grierson is a member of an important southern aristocrat family. Therefore, Emily is a lady and the townspeople believe she is “a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary...

...Stacy
Prof. Vivian
English 1102
February 2, 2013
Literary Analysis: A Rose For Emily
The brilliantly written story “A Rose For Emily” by William Faulkner holds various themes and symbols that can be interpreted in several ways. This short story is about Emily Grierson’s life through the eyes of the townspeople in a small, old southern town. It starts with the odd relationship betweenEmily and her father before and after he dies then continues with how Emily slowly becomes isolated after poisoning her “yankee” fiancé Homer Barron and hiding his body for over 40 years in her own bed. William Faulkner uses many literary devices to develop several themes but is mainly based around how Miss Emily is metaphorically the part of the south that needs change or will have a terrible ending.
Through out the story Miss Emily Grierson is the only thing that doesn’t change. Being raised in this society has major effects on her life, driving her crazy which I think led to her cruel actions in her later life. Growing up, Miss Emily’s father played a major influence on her mentality, keeping her isolated from everyone else played a big role in her later life. After her father’s death, Miss Emily kept his corpse and denied that he was dead for three days. “We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do...

...In “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner shows the death of Emily Grierson and how her funeral service was attended by almost the entire home (Faulkner W. 2003, pp 594). The story has a flashback of how her father died and how she was abandoned by a prospective spouse. The author makes it clear that Emily’s father had driven away several suitors who wanted to marry her. Emily denies her father’s death for some days before she offers the body to be buried. When the father dies, Emily becomes very sick. She buys some poison to commit suicide. Emily kills her suitor, Homer, and hides herself in the house till she dies at the age of seventy four years. After her death, her suitor’s body is found in her house almost at the point of decay. The themes of death and change are common in the story. We are told about the death of Emily, her father, the town’s mayor and Emily’s suitor. This story shows that everything in the town has undergone a great change including Emily herself and also shows that the people in the town do not embrace change. Emily did not accept change when her father died. This is why she could tell the town’s people that her father was still alive. Literary analysis of “A Rose for Emily” can take many different approaches. These include psychoanalytical, feminist and structuralist approach.
In a...

...Milan Patel
Dr. Julie Lester
ENGL 1010-206
27 April 2013
Literary Analysis on “A Rose For Emily” by William Faulkner
William Faulkner has done a wonderful work in his essay “A Rose for Emily.” Faulkner uses symbols, settings, character development, and other literary devices to express the life of Emily and the behavior of the people of Jefferson town towards her. By reading the essay, the audience cannot really figure out who the narrator is. It seems like the narrator can be the town’s collective voice. The fact that the narrator uses collective pronoun we supports the theory that the narrator is describing the life of “Miss Emily” on behalf of the townspeople. Faulkner has used the flashback device in his essay to make it more interesting. The story begins with the portrayal of Emily’s funeral and it moves to her past and at the end the readers realize that the funeral is a flashback as well. The story starts with the death of Miss Emily when he was seventy-four years old and it takes us back when she is a young and attractive girl.
Faulkner has characterized all the characters in the best possible way. Emily Grierson, Homer Barron, Judge Stevens – the mayor of Jefferson, Mr. Grierson – Emily’s father, Tobe – Emily’s servant, and Colonel Sartoris – a former mayor of Jefferson are the major charters in the story. The...

...Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” contains a wealth of meaning, communicated through various interconnected and somewhat complex themes. At the centre of the story supposedly stands Miss Emily but beyond that the Old South. Indeed, in this story about the interaction between the past and the present, human loneliness and isolation, the search for love and companionship, the escape from the present and the truth, and death versus life, the true protagonist is the Old South, personified in Miss Emily. It is
tenaciously and persistently present throughout “A Rose for Emily,” and stubbornly resists being swept away or cast aside by the New South. Miss Emily is the
personification of the Old South and emerges as a tragic figure, largely because of her inability to interact with the present or to confront reality. The past versus the present is the story of Miss Emily’s life and, as shall be argued in this analysis, her hold on the past and her rejection of the present ultimately condemn her to a life of loneliness and culminate in psychological disorder. The past assumes various symbols in “A Rose for Emily,” with the most predominant being the past as the Old South. As Watkins (1954), a professor of
American literature, argued in his interpretation of this story, “A Rose For Miss Emily” may be interpreted as a...

...ENG 102
Analysis Research Paper
09-25-10
Literary Analysis
William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” carries a theme represented by a dying breed of that era, while using symbolism to represent tragedy, loneliness and some form of pride, the story also shows how far one will go to have the approval of others and the pursuit of happiness.
In today’s times, a person’s image could mean everything in life and almost everyone tries to fit into the main stream in some form at some point in there life. Though, people often claim to try to be unique and trend setters at some point they all buckle down and try to just fit in and impress. This idea to me goes into the same as for “A Rose for Emily”.
The short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is about the life of a once vibrant and happy young girl who grows into a very troubled old woman. When interviewed and asked “the meaning of the title, A Rose for Emily. Faulkner expressed: “Oh, it’s simply the poor woman had had no life at all.” (1445). Main character Emily Grierson was born into a family that was very well kept and members of the upper class. Everyone in the some what small community kept close eyes on the Grierson family. It wasn’t as if the townspeople didn’t like the Grierson’s, it’s just that the family was the object of perfection, so every move was...

...Edgar Delalamon
A ROSE FOR EMILY
BY WILLIAM FAULKNER The narrator describes what happens after Emily dies. Emily’s body is laid out in the parlor, and the women, town elders, and two cousins attend the service.
The narrator describes the fear that some of the townspeople have that Emily will use the poison to kill herself.
The narrator recalls the time of Emily Grierson’s death and how the entire town attended her funeral in her home, which no stranger had entered for more than ten years.
The narrator describes a time thirty years earlier when Emily resists another official inquiry on behalf of the town leaders, when the townspeople detect a powerful odor emanating from her property.
The narrator describes a long illness that Emily suffers after this incident.
After some time has passed, the door to a sealed upstairs room that had not been opened in forty years is broken down by the townspeople. The room is frozen in time, with the items for an upcoming wedding and a man’s suit laid out. Homer Barron’s body is stretched on the bed as well, in an advanced state of decay. The onlookers then notice the indentation of a head in the pillow beside Homer’s body and a long strand of Emily’s gray hair on the pillow.
The summer after her father’s death, the town contracts workers to pave the sidewalks, and a construction company, under the direction of northerner Homer Barron,...